Gastrointestinal Cancer

Three-fourths of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma associated with hepatitis C infection achieved disease control with antibody therapy directed at a T-cell antigen.

The phase III EXPAND trial of cetuximab in combination with standard chemotherapy for patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma failed to show a significant improvement in progression-free survival.

Four studies reflected the growing interest in-and the volume of evidence for-using the diabetes drug metformin as a potential cancer therapy.

Dr. Dirk Arnold, from the University Cancer Center Hamburg, Germany, on Second-Line Bevacizumab Continuation Therapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

We all have to balance competing demands on our time. But as an academic oncologist, I have to keep a foot in 2 worlds, research and clinical, while still keeping my balance.

Dr. Marie Wood, from the University of Vermont, on Family Histories and Genetic Counseling for Breast and Colorectal Cancers.

Only half of those with breast cancer and one-quarter of those with colon cancer were referred for genetic counseling or testing by their physicians.

Dr. George Demetri, from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Discusses Regorafenib for Patients with GIST Trial Results.

The oral multikinase inhibitor regorafenib reduced the risk of disease progression by 73% in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors who had exhausted all other treatment options.

Bevacizumab plus chemotherapy as a second-line treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer improved survival among patients whose disease had progressed after first-line combination therapy with bevacizumab.

Liver surgery for colorectal cancer hepatic metastases has, for the most part, a minimal and brief negative impact on patient-reported outcomes.

At this year's annual NCCN conference, the organization presented updates in 13 areas, including specific disease states and general screening methods.

Patients are less likely to complete colorectal cancer screening if their physician recommended colonoscopy rather than recommending fecal occult blood testing.

The Trials in Progress section supplies summaries of ongoing research in a broad range of cancer types.

Universal tumor testing and a detailed personal and family history assessment are recommended for all patients with newly diagnosed colorectal cancer.

Adding brivanib alaninate to cetuximab had no survival advantage over cetuximab alone in patients with KRAS wild-type chemorefractory metastatic colorectal cancer.

New research on predictive and prognostic biomarkers for therapy targeting EGFR strongly suggests that panitumumab should be reserved for mCRC tumors with wild-type KRAS.

Adding oxaliplatin to conventional chemotherapy increases survival in patients with advanced colon cancer in a broad range of community practice settings.

Optical biomarkers derived from nondysplastic metaplastic cells can detect the presence of high-grade dysplasia and adenocarcinoma from Barrett's esophagus.

Being newly diagnosed with lung or colorectal cancer is often not sufficient to motivate cigarette smokers to quit.

The addition of everolimus to standard octreotide LAR achieved about a 5-month improvement in progression-free survival in patients with advanced neuroendocrine tumors.

Patients who received cetuximab in combination with a standard adjuvant therapy treatment for colon cancer did not experience improved survival.

An immunoassay to detect the presence of PAM4 showed promise for the detection and diagnosis of early-stage pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

More research is needed to define molecular subtypes of gastric cancer and identify appropriate targets for clinical use.

For patients with metastatic colorectal cancer that has progressed on multiple lines of standard therapy, regorafenib may be a new treatment option that achieves disease control.